Cook Islands Party bewildered over budget for mini games while pollution is in the area

The Cook Islands opposition party says it's ironic that the government can approve a budget of more than nine million dollars for the 2009 mini games but can't fix the overflowing sewage treatment plant in Nikao on the main island Rarotonga.

Nikao is the venue for the mini games which brings together athletes from around the region.

CIP deputy Teina Bishop and Atiu MP Nandi Glassie have threatened to take legal action, and has laid the blame squarely on the shoulders of the Cook Islands Investment Corporation because they manage the land where the treatment plant is located.

Mr Glassie is questioning why the government would spend millions of dollars upgrading the adjacent Tereora Stadium for the 2009 mini games.

"That is what makes it so ridiculous because how can you have this complex when we still haven't the ability to sort this environmental hazard out in terms of the pollution that's coming out of this system here."